One Game at a Time

It was sensational, electrifying, jaw dropping, and eye popping all at the same time. LeBron James starred in the Miami Heat's 100-67 win over the New York Knicks yesterday afternoon en route to taking a 1-0 game lead in this best of seven series. The Knicks, who were a trendy upset pick entering the playoffs, have a lot of things to work on if they want to make this series competitive. Even though New York is the media capital of the world, "King James" stole the highlights.

James, often criticized for his failure to win a ring, is no stranger to postseason heroics. As a matter of fact, outside of last years finals, he has been around in the fourth quarter in the past. Doesn't anyone remember May 31, 2007 when "King James" scored 29 of his team's final 30 points en route to a double overtime win against the playoff tested Pistons? James scored 48 that game. Or what about May 22, 2009? The Chosen One hit an off balanced game winning three to even the Eastern Conference Finals at 1 with the Magic. Aren't these playoff moments where James should be known as "clutch"?

Now I remember. None of those moments culminated with a championship. As great as James has been in the first three rounds of the post season, he has come up incredibly small in the finals. It seems as if James scored fewer and fewer points in each fourth quarter of the finals last year. Could he have been so tired by the time he reached games 5 and 6 of the finals? Maybe, but Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant never let that slow them down.

Let's go over the facts for yesterday's impressive showing from James. It's only the first round of the playoffs and this game was played against a 7 seed without their starting point guard and with their center battling a devastating flu (who probably hurt the Knicks by being in there). The Heat also won the game by 33 points. The reason they were up by so much was because of James but we've seen this kind of performance from him before. He's very comfortable playing with a big lead. We want to see him have a moment like Kevin Durant had last night.

32 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals read LeBron's stat line from yesterday's game against New York. It's only one game although it was certainly impressive. Even more impressive, LeBron led the Heat to that win. This was a game where Dwyane Wade played the role of Robin. James was Batman and is the biggest reason as to why the Heat had a 32-2 run in the second quarter! The Heat made a mistake when they said "not 4, not 5, not 6". It seemed as if last year they tried to win four championships in one season. James looked slowed down yesterday and although there's a lot more work for him to do, this was a good start. He's trying to win one ring at a time now, one game at a time.

--Brendan Tuma can be reached at btuma@student.umass.edu for further comment

Meet The Fab4

“Losers quit when they’re tired. Winners quit when they’ve won”. –Fab4 Terminator Dan Tursky

It was back in December 2010 when they first played together. It might of been one of the first winter smashball games but nonetheless it was, at the time, thought to be nothing more than another game of pick up. The team featured Brendan Tuma, Dan Tursky, Sam Gould, Sawyer Hulme, and Brett Campbell. In what turned out to be a simultaneously both hilarious and impressive win, the Fab4 had played their first game together, and more importantly, started developing their chemistry.

The formation of the team went largely unnoticed for several months, until players started going back to look at old tapes to see how great of a win that actually was. Spring smashball picked up and at the start, Tuma, Tursky, and Hulme were a part of the Flying Dutchmen but the team also featured Billy Peisel and Nick Tsantes instead of Gould. It was not until Campbell's broken leg where the teams decided to realign and the Fab4 would player together again. What ensued would be the most dramatic, the most eyebrow raising, the most theatrical, the most electrifying, and the most breathtaking few months of smashball history. 

When the first ever fan day occurred this past Thanksgiving, it was only fitting to have these four play together. In front of about twenty-five fans, on smashball's biggest stage, the team made their first major statement in the public eye. Brendan Tuma led the game with eight points, Sawyer Hulme limited the opposition to nine points, and both Dan Tursky and Sam Gould made big plays throughout the game as the foursome showed it wasn't afraid of the big stage. Even after losing reserve Matt Custodio to an early game ending shoulder injury, the Fab4 players refused to panic and played the rest of the game without a substitute. 

So what is it about these four that make their games so entertaining to watch? They seem to every game have a feel of what's going to happen. They know their roles and they celebrate like children when they score. What's crazier is that this team actually wins. When the Fab4 have played the whole game, they have never lost. 

"It really comes down to team chemistry" says Fab4 captain Brendan Tuma. "It's what we preach every game because it's true. It's pretty easy to play well with and have fun doing it when you're playing with your best friends. We develop our chemistry other places also, whether it's football, basketball, or going to Celtics games, UMass, Skyzone. If you've ever come to dinner with us you'll understand why we go so crazy while scoring. Maybe. It's more of a brotherhood than anything else really". 

The Fab4 seem to be put together pretty nicely. Tuma likes to point out that it isn't an all star team. Each of the four have a role in which they play and when those four roles come together, it makes for a pretty good team. Hulme preaches the importance of passing and everyone listens, the same way they listen when Tursky preaches the importance of defense. They may like to let loose when they score but until they do it's all business. It's about putting the ego aside and playing unselfishly with a never ending resilient will to win that has this team confident heading into the summer of 2012. 

As a matter of fact, that resiliency was tested over winter break. The Fab4 had played the day before, and won. And were in the middle of the first game of a doubleheader against stars such as Peiseil, Campbell, and Justin Lanzafane. Their confidence might have been a little too high entering that game as the team quickly found themselves in holes of 5-0 and 6-1. Tuma remembers just wanting to make sure they weren't losers of the biggest blowout in smashball history. Losers would have quit when they were tired. Not this team. A furious comeback, marked by scoring 4 points in under two minutes put the game back within reach, and culminated with Tuma's game winning kick (assist by Tursky). 

It's these defining moments that explain the team's swagger. "We just know we're the best" smasher Sam Gould says. 

"There is no other sport on this earth that relies so much on momentum for a victory" says megaslammer Saywer Hulme. It certainly appears that way. This team's constant celebrations and flare for the dramatic certainly wipe away any chance the opposing team has at momentum. 

Whether you want to call it momentum or chemistry or swagger this team finds a way to win. Between Gould's unique defensive ability, Tursky's emotion on defense, Hulme's passing, and Tuma's leadership combined with all four of their burning desires to win, it's no wonder they love playing together.

"We win and lose as a team" Tuma states. "It takes all four of us every game. Any game, any one of us can be the hero. Yela led us in scoring one game and we don't win if Sawyer doesn't throw no look dimes. I'll always tell Dan it's his energy and emotion that really make this team what it is. It'd be tough to win without him. It's a good thing we played together that time a couple of years ago".

"What makes the Fab4 so great is that we have developed so much chemistry that we barely have to look to know where the others are, not that I look anyways" says Hulme. 

So Sawyer's not always looking at his teammates when he passes, but the rest of the world is, and they're starting to notice that this team isn't quitting when they're tired. That's because winners don't quit until they've won.